If you watch enough cooking shows, you begin to see the same things being made over and over again. One recipe that I seem to see a lot is any sort of ragu. The basic idea is to take some meat, give it a good browning in a hot pan, put some aromatic vegetables in the pan, cook them for a bit, add some liquid and braise the meat until it's tender.

I used some sausage that I had cut up into little bits. When it was finished, they looked like little meatballs. For my aromatics, I had the traditional trio of carrots, celery and onions, but also added some sliced leeks for more sweetness. I added red wine and beef stock to cover the meat and let the whole thing simmer for about an hour. Served over polenta it was meaty and delicious.